Water and wastewater professionals rely on accurate flow measurements for process operation and regulatory compliance. Selecting the best flow meter for each application is essential to obtaining accurate flow data.
When Linda Mullen took over as water superintendent in Burnsville in 2007, the city was in the process of adding surface‐water treatment to its existing plant. Burnsville began purchasing water from the nearby Kraemer Mining and Materials quarry, both to supplement its supply and to help the quarry meet discharge permits.
Water, classified as one of the basic elements since ancient time, is so essential, so simple, yet can be so challenging to deliver at high quality in high volumes. Pursuing the “perfect” glass of water involves two major influences: 1) regulatory requirements and 2) aesthetics or organoleptic quality (i.e., taste, odor, appearance, etc.). To start, it helps to be blessed with the good fortune of good source water quality, but beyond that it comes down to how a water utility treats and “polishes” the final product. Even for utilities not totally obsessed with garnering national taste-test honors, here are several factors to be considered when searching for the perfect glass of water, and the role that turbidity measurement can play in them.
Continuous analyzers are routinely employed to monitor water and steam cycles in industries such as power generation, municipal water and waste water, pharmaceutical, and microelectronics. By Randy C. Turner, Technical Director, Swan Analytical USA
Monitoring chlorine and fluoride levels in the drinking water of Utah’s Taylorsville-Bennion Improvement District used to be expensive, labor intensive, and often sensitive to interference from the variable frequency drives used to operate the chlorine injection pumps. That is, until the district upgraded to Rosemount free chlorine and fluoride sensors and analyzers from Emerson.
In the 1990s, the City of Wichita, KS, developed a water supply plan that included creating a sustainable water supply through the year 2050. The key component of the plan is recharging the large aquifer that lies under the region with 100 MGD of water from the Little Arkansas River.
The Upper Trinity Regional Water District (UTRWD) is a conservation district created by the State of Texas in 1989 to provide water, wastewater, solid waste and storm water services to numerous towns and cities approximately 50 miles northwest of Dallas. In 2010, the UTRWD installed three 2,000 pound per day (PPD) chlorine equivalent Microclor® OSHG systems. The systems continue to provide UTRWD with a reliable supply of hypochlorite for disinfection in a manner that is less expensive and less risky than gas chlorine or liquid bulk hypochlorite delivered via truck or rail through such a heavily populated area.
A U.S. company develops energy technologies that are environmentally sustainable and provides their customers with the ability to use their energy sources in a more practical and cost-effective manner.
Biological Nutrient Removal (BNR) is allowing many wastewater treatment plants to achieve extremely high effluent quality. Still, for some applications even the most advanced BNR processes can’t address concerns with trace organics, pharmaceuticals, and other endocrine disrupting compounds (EDCs).
Ilijan Plant is a combined cycle power plant and at 1,200 MW generating capacity, is the largest power plant in the Philippines. The plant consists of two power blocks, which share a common membrane based Seawater Desalination system for their make-up water requirements. The desalination system gets the water from the Luzon Sea and has a total installed capacity of 3.8 MGD
When selecting a new analyzer for your plant, there are many different features to consider. One of those is the choice of how the instrument will be calibrated, namely between an inexpensive manual calibration and a more complex automatic calibration method. (To be clear, we will define automatic calibration as a feature that involves no operator intervention at the instrument.) Factors that influence this choice are financial, process, staff levels, and personal preference. Let’s explore each of those.
Two new particle detecting technologies have been developed to help optimize filter performance at water treatment plants (WTP).
Water quality laboratories across the nation are faced with both a rising level of water quality awareness amongst the general public, as well as rising costs in water quality monitoring. As a result, laboratories are looking for more efficient ways to provide higher quality monitoring.
The QuEChERS (Quick-Easy-Cheap-Effective-Rugged-Safe) sample extraction method was developed for the determination of pesticide residues in agricultural commodities.
Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD) analysis is the test everyone loves to hate—and for compelling reasons.
Hexanal is one of many well-documented aromatic components that contribute to flavor and aroma in common consumer food products containing omega-6 fatty acids. Hexanal content is also used to measure the oxidative status of foods rich in omega-6 fatty acids.
Total organic carbon (TOC) analysis is an important indicator of water quality throughout the drinking water treatment process. Raw source water is progressively treated in chemical coagulation, flocculation, sedimentation, and filtration steps to remove particulate matter and natural organic matter (NOM).
Some wastewater applications require chlorine residuals greater than can be effectively monitored using DPD due to the oxidation of the Wurster dye to a colorless Imine. Such applications include industrial wastewater processes that inherently have a high chlorine demand thereby requiring a more robust monitoring method.
In 2013 the Drinking Water Inspectorate for England & Wales announced that water samples collected in England and Wales must be tested in a laboratory that meets specific standards for drinking water sampling and analysis. At the time of the new instruction, the chlorine method employed at the Welsh Water Bretton laboratory was unable to meet these requirements, notably for the prescribed limit of detection. This prompted the laboratory to investigate new analytical options for monitoring residual chlorine.
Continuing the tradition of ground breaking products that add exciting new capabilities for smart, remote monitoring in water and wastewater networks.
$40 million cost reduction through real-time water distribution control.
The Vehicle Gateway Base Station (VGB) is a portable radio-based device used for the acquisition of data from utility meters and other field-based diagnostic instruments. The VGB is compact and portable, allowing it to be used in any vehicle providing 12-volt DC power.
A simple valve package that saves both water and money, the Model 106 / 206 PGM-2PR-630-SM is an extension of the 2PR-630 pressure management valve with safety back-up.
ClorTec T systems easily control sodium hypochlorite production and provide a powerful disinfection method for any application. T systems meet requirements for 2 to 36 lb/day (0.9 to 16 kg/day) chlorine equivalent. Applications include potable water, wastewater, odor and corrosion control, cooling towers, oxidation and swimming pool disinfection.
Moving water and controlling water systems is no easy task. There are many variables involved with fluid dynamics, the addition of environmental, harmonics and energy cost concerns make system control even more difficult. Eaton understands these problems and provides enclosed drives solutions for water/wastewater. From NEMA 4X enclosures to our Active Energy Control algorithm and five-year warranty, Eaton provides a complete solution for water/wastewater applications.
Keeping an eye on what happens with domestic oil and gas regulation is a bit like herding cats. We’ve seen encouraging progress on air quality issues related to oil and gas, but an equally critical front that’s seen major action is protection of our land and water resources.
With time, labor, and money at a premium, state-of-the-art controls on filtration equipment can ease the burden on operators while improving uptime and lowering costs.
Advanced oxidation provides an all-in-one solution that supports the complete eradication of Legionella in a water system, while also preventing its regrowth.
When it comes to fixing pipeline infrastructure, the pressure is on — but is it being measured? Intelligent pipe solutions provide flow and pressure data for improved service and water quality.
Even as the drinking water crisis draws more attention, the true impact of PFAS exposure may be largely underestimated, necessitating louder calls for action.
Rio de Janeiro boasts the world's largest water treatment plant, and it's working overtime. The Guandu Water Treatment Station provides 90 percent of the city of Rio's water, and it's increasingly grappling with water quality problems. One challenge is that forest loss and landscape degradation upstream of the city is causing soil erosion, which generates more pollution, and fills reservoirs with sediment instead of water.
"Wastewater Dan” talks with FOX 4 News Kansas City about drought conditions in California and procedures to conserve water in the home. He also demonstrates the use of a total dissolved solids (TDS) meter to test drinking water quality, and interprets the results.
Discover how integrated membrane system designs can maximize the operating stability of EDI systems and reduce mixed bed regeneration frequency.
In most developed countries, drinking water is regulated to ensure that it meets drinking water quality standards. In the U.S., the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) administers these standards under the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA).
Drinking water considerations can be divided into three core areas of concern:
Drinking Water Sources
Source water access is imperative to human survival. Sources may include groundwater from aquifers, surface water from rivers and streams and seawater through a desalination process. Direct or indirect water reuse is also growing in popularity in communities with limited access to sources of traditional surface or groundwater.
Source water scarcity is a growing concern as populations grow and move to warmer, less aqueous climates; climatic changes take place and industrial and agricultural processes compete with the public’s need for water. The scarcity of water supply and water conservation are major focuses of the American Water Works Association.
Drinking Water Treatment
Drinking Water Treatment involves the removal of pathogens and other contaminants from source water in order to make it safe for humans to consume. Treatment of public drinking water is mandated by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in the U.S. Common examples of contaminants that need to be treated and removed from water before it is considered potable are microorganisms, disinfectants, disinfection byproducts, inorganic chemicals, organic chemicals and radionuclides.
There are a variety of technologies and processes that can be used for contaminant removal and the removal of pathogens to decontaminate or treat water in a drinking water treatment plant before the clean water is pumped into the water distribution system for consumption.
The first stage in treating drinking water is often called pretreatment and involves screens to remove large debris and objects from the water supply. Aeration can also be used in the pretreatment phase. By mixing air and water, unwanted gases and minerals are removed and the water improves in color, taste and odor.
The second stage in the drinking water treatment process involves coagulation and flocculation. A coagulating agent is added to the water which causes suspended particles to stick together into clumps of material called floc. In sedimentation basins, the heavier floc separates from the water supply and sinks to form sludge, allowing the less turbid water to continue through the process.
During the filtration stage, smaller particles not removed by flocculation are removed from the treated water by running the water through a series of filters. Filter media can include sand, granulated carbon or manufactured membranes. Filtration using reverse osmosis membranes is a critical component of removing salt particles where desalination is being used to treat brackish water or seawater into drinking water.
Following filtration, the water is disinfected to kill or disable any microbes or viruses that could make the consumer sick. The most traditional disinfection method for treating drinking water uses chlorine or chloramines. However, new drinking water disinfection methods are constantly coming to market. Two disinfection methods that have been gaining traction use ozone and ultra-violet (UV) light to disinfect the water supply.
Drinking Water Distribution
Drinking water distribution involves the management of flow of the treated water to the consumer. By some estimates, up to 30% of treated water fails to reach the consumer. This water, often called non-revenue water, escapes from the distribution system through leaks in pipelines and joints, and in extreme cases through water main breaks.
A public water authority manages drinking water distribution through a network of pipes, pumps and valves and monitors that flow using flow, level and pressure measurement sensors and equipment.
Water meters and metering systems such as automatic meter reading (AMR) and advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) allows a water utility to assess a consumer’s water use and charge them for the correct amount of water they have consumed.
